


An Inevitable Collapse Into Despair's New Domain

by WinslowButGreen



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: Almost Everyone - Freeform, Alternate Universe, Blood and Gore, Body Horror, First chapter is kinda slow and mostly set-up but you'll see what I mean soon enough, I'd tag as non-despair but that implies that things are going to be okay, I'll add more specific tags as the story goes on, Male Pronouns for Fujisaki Chihiro, lots of characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-27
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:20:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21579022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinslowButGreen/pseuds/WinslowButGreen
Summary: Bizarre as an old European mansion is as a location for a school trip, Hope's Peak still sent three of their classes there, even if said classes are very aware of how the setting is very reminiscent of a typical horror setting.But other than the creepy setting, everything is fine. They still have access the outside world. They know the creepiness of the house doesn't actually mean anything. They can leave whenever they want. All is well.By the time they realize the true despair of the place, it'll be too late anyways.(Remember to read the tags!)
Relationships: TBD - Relationship
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	An Inevitable Collapse Into Despair's New Domain

Hajime wasn't experienced with mansions or buildings like them, but he wasn't sure they were supposed to feel so... off.

The size was almost incomprehensible, probably far larger than Hope's Peak if he had to guess, and if the old European designs of the furniture or the ever-constant creaking of the wood didn't give away the age, the feel of dust lingering in the air certainly did. He wouldn't be half-surprised if one or all of the bathrooms had mold in them.

“Sonia, are you sure it's a good idea to stay here?” he asked, letting his gaze pan over the entirety of the entrance again, making note of Byakuya standing on the stairs and in conversation with Makoto, Kazuichi mumbling to himself while staring and frowning at the chandelier above, and Gundham seemingly having a staring competition with a spiderweb that hung from one of the doorways' corners.

“Of course!” the princess said cheerfully, clapping her hands together and smiling as if immune to the age clinging to the air of the building. “The other class staying here has been here a fortnight already, and they've reported having an excellent time! The connection to the outside world still works well, there's plenty enough rooms for all of us, and my family is sending over more resources to handle the extra people soon.”

“Okay, that's good and all,” Hajime said, “and I guess we do have Kazuichi if anything electrical goes wrong. But...” he scratched at the back of his head, “don't you think this place is still a little... weird?”

“Are you referring to the fact it seems perfect for the setting of an older horror novel?” she asked with a tilt of her head, continuing before Hajime had a chance to reply, “I think that's part of the appeal.” She clapped her hands together and her eyes seemed to sparkle. “After all, even if something goes horribly wrong, it would be such a fascinating story! Hope's Peak students found dead in an ancient mansion, perhaps the start of a new occult-themed serial killer, or killed by an actual occult as sacrifices for their dark god!”

Hajime stared at Sonia, aware that the creaking floorboards were the only sound that emerged at her seemingly eager statement.

Seeing what was surely a bizarre expression on Hajime's face, Sonia seemed to realize the strangeness of her statement, and cough and chuckled nervously while smoothing out her dress.

“That's a worst case scenario, of course, I highly doubt such a thing would actually happen to us. We're in the middle of nowhere, and it's highly unlikely a killer would come this far. And as I said earlier, our connection to the outside world is still strong! Telephones and internet connections still work, after all, which is impressive considering our location.” She frowned, and placed a finger on her cheek in though. “...I wonder how they set it all up, now that I think about it.”

Kazuichi bounced up next to them, mouth open and eyes wide as if he were about to explain, but the wood of the ceiling groaned with thumps, shaking the chandelier and making the lighting of the room waver and shake, and Ibuki hurled down the stairs and whipped around at the top of them, staring at everyone in the room heaving for breath and grinning widely.

“Ibuki LOVES this place!” she screamed as she threw her hands up into the air, “It's so big, and she can run around as much as she wants to! Ibuki could even play her music on one end and people couldn't hear it on the other!”

“Somehow, I doubt that you would obey the natural laws of sound,” Byakuya said as he pushed up his glasses.

Hajime didn't get a chance to continue his conversation with Sonia, as soon enough other people started coming in from other rooms of the house, concerned with the cacophony Ibuki had just caused and either wondering if someone had been injured or if the house was collapsing, and everyone else ended up filtering out one way or another, leaving Hajime standing alone in the large room.

He sighed, listening to the creaks of the house fade as everyone walked away, and soon walked off himself to see if he could find Chiaki.

* * *

Chiaki bent down at the windowsill, frowning as she brushed her finger along it. 

Contrary to her expectations, her finger was not coated in dust when she looked at it again, though there was still a faint amount of it.

There were squeaks in the wood behind her, and she felt someone lean into her bubble of personal space.

“What're you doing?” they asked, and she jumped back from them, glaring as they grinned cheekily at her. She felt like she should've recognized the spikey, dark purple hair, or at least the black and white checkerboard patterned on his scarf, but no name came to her.

“...Finding myself surprised by the cleanliness of this place,” she said slowly, blinking at the unfamiliar person. “Have we met before?”

“Mhh, I don't think so.” Their head tilted to the side. “I'm Kokichi Oma! And if we're exchanging Ultimates, I'm the Ultimate Supreme leader!”

The name and appearance finally clicked together in Chiaki's brain.

“Oh,” she said with a hum, “I remember you seem familiar now. You're the one who has a habit of lying every other word.”

Kokichi gasped, and his hand went to his chest. “People really say that about me? I can't believe this.” His entire body drooped as he frowned, eyes watering. “I just wanna have a good time...”

Awkwardness tugged at Chiaki as she was torn between sympathy and disbelief, and she almost sighed in relief when she heard the wood groan, and she saw another person- green eyed and dark-haired- emerge from around the corner.

“Kokichi,” they said with a sigh and raised brow, “what are you up to?”

Immediately he snapped up, false tears vanishing as if non-existant, and hands behind his head as he spun around.

“Shuichi!” he said in the same chirpy voice as before, “I just found this girl creeping near the window, and I wanted to say hi! Buuut she seems to be boring, so I'm gonna go find everyone else!”

Shuichi opened his mouth as if to scold him, but the only sound was the creaking and pitter-pattering as Kokichi ran off.

There was a moment of awkwardness between them, the creaks of Kokichi's footsteps fading, and Shuichi scratched the back of his neck and Chiaki rubbed at her arm.

“I wasn't creeping,” Chiaki finally said, “I was just surprised by the fact that the window wasn't as dusty as I expected it to be.”

“Ah, makes sense,” Shuichi said with a nervous chuckle, “that's thanks to one of our classmates being the Ultimate Maid- the place was way filthier when we first got here.” He stepped forward. “I guess you're part of one of the other class who's staying here with us?”

“Yeah-” she smiled and readjusted her backpack, “I'm Chiaki Nanami, the Ultimate Gamer. Kokichi said you were Shuichi- right?”

“Shuichi Saihara,” he confirmed, “I'm, uh, the Ultimate Detective.”

“No wonder your name sounded familiar- Kirigiri's talked about you,” she said, tilting her head to the side with a smile. “I'm not close with her, but she's mentioned good things about you,” she reassured him as his eyes widened and his face paled.

“Oh- I'm... glad?” he said, pulling down his hat as his eyes flickered towards the window. “Though I'm... still really sorry I took the title from her.”

Chiaki frowned. “You couldn't control something like that though. She might not go to Hope's Peak or hold the title of Ultimate any more, but she is still a very good detective- currently working on a case now, actually, and that's why she's not here. Just because you're the new Ultimate Detective doesn't say anything ill about her.”

“I guess,” Shuichi muttered, pulling his hat over his eyes for a moment, gaze drifting towards the window.

Then his brows furrowed, and he stepped towards the window, expression still scrunched up as he put his hand on the glass and stared outside.

“Is... something wrong, Saihara?” Chiaki asked, skin prickling.

“Not necessarily 'wrong',” he muttered, “but... well, do you know anything about European architecture?”

“A little, thanks to Sonia, but honestly not all that much,” Chiaki said with a shrug, soon standing besides him and staring at the window herself. “Why?”

Shuich squinted out the window.

“It just... seems weird that there would be a barn so close to a mansion like this.”

Chiaki followed his gaze, and easily spotted the barn herself.

It was a decent distance away, but still closer to the house than she would've expected it to be. The exterior was a dark color, maybe black or purple, and although it was hard to tell with the distance, it seemed to be nearly as old as the house itself.

“...Maybe the people who built the mansion were eccentrics,” she finally said with a shrug, leaning back from the cold glass of the window. “People with too much money on their hands do weird things with it after all, and having a barn so close could've been one of those things. I could always ask Sonia more about the history of this place if you want me to, though.” A thought occurred to her, and she looked to Shuichi with a frown. “...Hey, how come you're just noticing this now? Haven't you guys been here a little while?”

“Two weeks,” Shuichi said, gaze still set towards the barn outside. “And it's not like I haven't seen the barn or anything before, it just... hasn't occurred to me until now how weird it is that it's there.”

A certain tension seemed to weigh on the air, and Chiaki couldn't explain why it prickled at her skin in such a way, or why it made her notice the tension in Shuichi's body, and the quietness of the house seemed to settle down on them. Even the faint creaks and groans of the mansion's walls and floors felt less of a comfort against the silence, and more of a shiver that crept along her spine.

A clatter suddenly echoed along the halls and made Chiaki jolt and Shuichi whip around, the eerie quiet that suddenly emerged after it only heightening the racing of her heart and the tension in her body.

And then, a distant “God DAMN IT Ibuki!” in Byakyua's distinct voice, followed soon thereafter by the very familiar laughter of the damned in question, and Chiaki let out a sigh before she realized it, readjusting the straps of her backpack once more.

“Ibuki's another one of my classmates,” she explain at Shuichi's confused glance, “and, well, she's not exactly the quietest. I can make introductions if you want?”

Shuichi glanced once more at the window, and then looked back at her with a small smile.

“Sure- maybe we'll stumble into Kirumi on the way. This area might not be as dusty as you expected, but she might wanna do a quick check of it again just in case.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Chiaki said, yawning as they continued down the hallway after the source of the noise, leaving the window behind them.

* * *

Nagito had to admit that if he could compliment nothing else about the large manorhouse, it was at least large enough to house all the students- walking along this hallway, only a small, small part of the building, said that already.

“I thought that my presence of a lowlife like me would be an unnecessary burden, considering we have forty students here,” Nagito said with a hum, “but it seem like there's enough rooms for almost everyone here.”

Teruteru didn't reply directly to him, only muttering “That damn kitchen should be around here somewhere,” and Nagito knew that his presence was probably making the Ultimate uncomfortable, so he turned towards the lamps on the walls instead, brushing his fingers along the metal frames.

Dust came away on his fingers, which he rubbed together, wondering why such an unsurprising sight made his chest tingle.

Teruteru suddenly laughed and clapped his hands together, and Nagito watched the Ultimate Cook enter the room in front of him, soon following himself.

To his surprise, the kitchen was starkingly modern compared to what he'd seen of the rest of the mansion. There was a fridge in the corner of the room, the ovens he saw were all shiny and installed recently, as were many of the tools and utensils he saw stacked in shelves.

He inhaled, and the lack of dust in the air struck out to him- he dragged his fingers against the shining surface of the counter, and they came away clean.

“-in peak condition!” Teruteru's words finally registered in Nagito's mind, and he looked to see the Ultimate Cook marveling at the sights. “With the condition of the rest of the place, I wasn't too certain what condition the kitchen would be, but it's absolutely spotless!” He laughed. “Someone certainly has their priorities straight.”

“Well,” a new voice slid into the room, “it does make sense when you think about it.”

Nagito turned around, finding the source of the voice leaning against the doorway of the other entrance into the kitchen. 

“Since Kirumi is in the kitchen more routinely than most other places in the mansion to prepare our meals, and so the kitchen is most likely to gain her attention in regards to cleaning matters,” they continued, yellow eyes set towards them. Their long, dark greenish hair and the mask that covered up the bottom half of their face, a small zipper the appearing almost like a mouth, made Nagito grin.

“Ah, you must be the Ultimate Anthropologist- Korekiyo Shinguji?” he said.

He let out a small chuckle. “I see someone's done their research; that is my identity. However I'm afraid I'm not so familiar with the two of you.”

“Oh, well, well that makes sense- I'm Nagito Komaeda, just the Ultimate Lucky Student,” he said with a shrug, “and over there-” he pointed to Teruteru, eyes all but sparkling while he stared into the fridge- “is Teruteru Hanamura, the Ultimate Cook.”

“I see,” Korekiyo said with a hum, raising a brow as Teruteru began to haul ingredients from the fridge and onto the counter. “Though I must admit, I was under the impression the Ultimate Lucky Student went by another name- perhaps I was wrong, then?”

“You're probably thinking of Makoto Naegi- though he's here too, just in Class 78th. I'm the Ultimate Lucky Student of Class 77th.”

Korekiyo tilted his head to the side. “So rumors are true in that there are multiple Lucky Students, then.” He brought his hand up to his mask. “Isn't that interesting.”

“I really don't think so,” Nagito said with a shrug, “luck is hardly a real talent, after all- when someone does something an Ultimate with that talent cannot, they take the title for themselves and leave the past Ultimate behind. It's viscous for the past Ultimate, yes, but it's all necessary for one of that greater talent- like what happened with Kirigiri and... ah...”

“Shuichi Saihara?” Korekiyo filled in as Nagito paused.

“Ah yes, him- he's part of your class right? Still, the point is that true Ultimates are precious, and that's why there can only be one of them at a time, the replacement of an Ultimate unfortunate, but overall providing an opportunity for growth and hope. While the Ultimate Lucky Students aren't precious at all, and we can be replaced easily.” He spread his hands in a shrug, before slipping them back into his pockets. “Do you understand?”

“Your perspective on the scenario on hand, at least,” Korekiyo said, head tilted to the side. “But tell me, have you ever considered that the only reason there are multiple students isn't because your talent is worth less, but merely because it works differently than other Ultimate talents? Couldn't that then, therefor, make your talent worth more than other Ultimates?”

Nagito hesitated, and felt his face furrow as he mentally worked through Korekiyo's words.

Then, he let out a hum, and a sigh.

“Well, no, not really- numbers aren't all there is to worth, after all. After all, other Ultimates can use their talents- such as your own, the Ultimate Anthropologist- to better understand the world and the people in it. Or people with talents like Teruteru's-” he briefly glanced over, aware of the cook humming as he collected utensils and dishes from around the kitchen- “can use their talents to bring hope and joy to the world. But luck?” He chuckled, and looked at his hand. “Well, luck is more a wildcard than a talent, not able to be properly controlled or wielded. It doesn't bring about misfortune for the sake of something greater, and any fortune worth keeping is always at the expense of someone else.” He sighed. “So really, despite that my luck and I amount to a worthless pieces of trash, Hope's Peak just groups us with real Ultimates regardless.”

Korekiyo was quiet, eyes boring into Nagito as if in thought. The only background noises were the clinks as Teruteru slid around utensils and dishes in the background- either oblivious to, or purposefully ignoring, Nagito's monologue.

Finally, Korekiyo let out a soft chuckle, not mocking, but amused nonetheless.

“I must admit, that is a fascinating view on the situation at hand,” he finally said, bringing his hand to his cheek. “In my studies, I have consistently found people who believe the Ultimate Lucky Student just another talent, like any other, often even met with jealousy as it is not a trained skill, but rather something one is born with.” He hummed. “Finding that you have rejected this common view in exchange for one that puts down yourself is fascinating- and I must admit, I'd like to learn more.”

Nagito blinked and raised a brow at him, opening his mouth to reply again when there was a crash behind him.

“Teruteru,” he asked as he turned around, “what are you doing, exactly?”

Teruteru, sliding several pots and pans back into the rack he was pushing up from leaning, raised a brow at him.

“What does it look like I'm doing?” he asked, “I'm prepping dinner for tonight- we'll be eating before you know it, after all, and there's a lot of people to provide food for! And of course-” he smirked- “I wanna make a good impression on the ladies.”

Nagito rolled his eyes, walking over to help slide some of the pots onto the shelves Teruteru had trouble reaching.

“Before you begin,” Korekiyo said, “may I suggest speaking first to Kirumi Tojo, our previous cook, about the dinner arrangements? I highly doubt the Ultimate Maid would be pleased with one of her tasks being taken away from her without warning.”

Teruteru froze, the pan in his hands halfway on the shelf and half off.

“The Ultimate Maid, you say?” Teruteru asked as a grin took to his face. “Now, that is someone I wouldn't mind sharing the kitchen with- and maybe a few other things too.”

Nagito sighed, and didn't bother to stop the pan as it slid out of Teruteru's grip and thunked onto his head, exchanging a look with Korekiyo as the Ultimate Cook's speach devolved into a string of swear words.

* * *

“Kaede?”

She inhaled deeply at her name, even if she could feel the dust in the air thickly coating her mouth and throat as she did so.

“Yes, Kirumi?” she asked as she turned around.

Kirumi stood just in front of the entrance to the room, her hands still clasped in front of her, though the expression of her furrowed brows was soft.

“You will be coming to dinner tonight, will you not?” she asked quietly.

Kaede felt her smile grow, even if the thick air of dust in the room made it feel plastered on. “Of course- it's not like me to miss meals, is it?”

“Not normally, but you were missing at breakfast this morning,” Kirumi said, a small frown twitching at her lips. “And your meal was long cold before you came to lunch. Are you feeling well?”

“I'm fine, Kirumi,” she said, “I promise. I just find being in here... almost meditative. It's hard to leave it sometimes because it's so relaxing.”

Kirumi's eyes flickered around the room. “And... you're still certain you don't want me to clean it?”

“Thanks for the offer, but yeah, I'm sure.”

“The dust may ruin your appetite.”

“It won't, don't worry,” Kaede said, finally taking her hand of the keys of the ancient piano- along with a thick smear of dust that clung to her fingers. “I'm starving, honestly- and I promise I won't miss meals any more. I was just forgetful today.” She approached her friend, letting her brows furrow as she approached. “Hey... try not to worry too much about me, okay?”

Kirumi hesitated, but still nodded.

“If you insist.”

Kaede's smile felt more warm and genuine as she fully left the room, and waited a moment before following Kirumi- and took one last glance at the dust coated room, the large, intricately designed piano, the keys stained yellow with age.

And with the notes carved into the wood speaking to her in a way they wouldn't to anyone else, along with the dark purple hue the wood had taken in it's age, she felt a thrum in her heart, as if the instrument had been made for her, called to her.

Kaede smiled as she continued to follow Kirumi, the creaks the house played with their footsteps becoming a little tune of their own.

**Author's Note:**

> Dreams are funny things, and you never know what they'll lead you to do next. Like start planning a horror Danganronpa fanfiction that you'll take a weep to write the first chapter for, and then take an hour trying to remember all the characters you have to tag and trying to come up with a damn name. And by you I mean me.
> 
> Hi I'm Winslow, your author for this fanfic, and while posting this is impulsive and I won't promise anything, I'm hoping to turn this into a multi-chapter fic. Mostly because I have plans that actually exist, and some of said plans make me giddy and cackle maniacally. If we do continue at a semi-alright rate, I do not promise a consistent tone for these end notes, as it will likely depend on my current mood.
> 
> Anyways, hope to see you around I guess!


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